Vilankulo International Airport, in Inhambane province, southern Mozambique, has seen considerable traffic since January, with more than 60,000 passengers travelling from all over the world. A total of 4,500 aircraft, both commercial and private, have passed through the airport.
The figures were released on Tuesday 15 October by the CEO of Aeroportos de Moçambique (ADM), Amélia Muendane, who stressed that the level of demand shows that the infrastructure has the capacity to become sustainable in the near future, stressing that ‘there could be good news in the future’.
In February, Aeroportos de Moçambique revealed that it plans to introduce monthly flights to Filipe Jacinto Nyusi Airport, in the Chongoene district of Gaza province, and Vilankulo Airport from South Africa.
According to the institution’s commercial administrator, Saíde Júnior, the plan aims to respond to the concerns of Mozambicans working in the South African mines, and is a facilitation mechanism for those wishing to visit their families living in those parts of the country.
According to the figures presented last year, Aeroportos de Moçambique recorded air traffic of 1.6 million passengers between January and December 2022, compared to 379,812 in the same period in 2021. The result represents fulfilment of the plan by 117.2% and an increase in performance of 29.7% compared to the previous year.
‘As the number of aircraft calling at Vilankulo Airport grows, the infrastructure built less than 15 years ago is already starting to become too small to meet demand,’ she said, quoted by the newspaper O País.
